COVID-19 has required churches who weren’t as invested in tech to take note and find ways to reach potential parishioners. Churches have had to step back and look at how they stream content to users as well as how they deliver an experience since they are unable to have everyone in a physical building. Just as crucial as that stream is, and I recommend OBS studio as a low-cost solution (see earlier post), I also suggest churches use WordPress.
Content managers, in general, have come a long way since my days of using Joomla on a Linux operating system. Today, they are easier to install and even easier to maintain. I want to spend a little bit of time here giving you an essential “how-to” guide to get up and running in WordPress
Why WordPress?
That’s a great question. WordPress has risen as the de facto content manager. With a large community of volunteer developers for WordPress itself and the thousands of themes and plugins, there is more than likely a way to accomplish your website dreams. I’m going to talk about my “secret sauce.” I manage several business, non-profit, and educational web sites all on WordPress using Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this post, I hope to compel you to give this set up a shot. There are a couple of plugins that I use that can make your site look professional. In addition to this, there are tons of WordPress site designers out there who could help you get stuck.
Begin with Lightsail
If you are not a pro at the Linux operating system, I would suggest Amazon’s Lightsail instances. These are easy to set up, and you don’t have to worry about the underlying operating system. You can spin one up pretty cheap (as low as $3.50 per month). However, I don’t recommend the most inexpensive plan as your site will be slow and often run into issues if you get more than about 5-6 people on it at once. I upgrade my Lightsail instances, and they cost me between $10 – $20 per month. The other beautiful thing about Lightsail is they come ready to go with Plesk SE edition, which offers you a graphic front end to managing your Lightsail installation.
I will link to some getting started instructions down below because Plesk’s initial configuration can be a little tricky. Once you have Plesk running and you have logged in, the WordPress installation is a one-click installation. Unlike all of the steps, you would typically have to install WordPress on a vanilla operating system (along with all the software WordPress depends on), Plesk makes this very simple.
What’s Next?
Once you have WordPress up and running, the next thing I recommend doing before starting to put content is to install a couple of plugins. I highly recommend The Elementor plugin. They have an extensive number of how-to videos on YouTube that guide you through the setup and usage process.
The Elementor is the game-changer. Using this, I’m able to get no-code or minimal-code websites up in a few hours rather than a few days. This plugin is not only easy to use, but it allows you to re-create many of the different modules and items that you see used on modern websites around the Internet. The best part is, The Elementor is pretty affordable. As of this writing, if you are doing a single-site, you can unlock the Pro edition for $49 per year. In total, with our Lightsail instance at $10, we will have a total of $169.00 per year on a website. This isn’t just any website, but it is a standards-based open-source website where so many plugins are available to accomplish your dreams with this as a foundation.
You seem pretty passionate about this.
It’s because I am. You see, a church’s website is often the first impression that a visitor might see without stepping in your doors. This first impression must present the content and the image that you want your audience to see. Yes, you can accomplish this with sites like Wix.com or other quick-build website services. But the combination of WordPress and The Elementor gives you the flexibility to allow the creative juices to flow. The other great thing about The Elementor is this is a low-code solution. You don’t need to know HTML, JavaScript, or PHP. This plugin allows you to drag and drop elements on to your canvas and begin to layout your dream website.
Scalability is also key.
The other great thing about WordPress is it will grow as you grow. With both Lightsail and WordPress, you can spin up larger (or more) servers to accomplish the task of processing the content and delivering it to your visitors in a fast and efficient method. I think as we continue to deal with this pandemic and people getting content provided to them daily or even hourly, the way we deliver both our web content and stream has become increasingly more important. I believe, as time goes on, it is the church’s job to adapt the delivery method in which to reach people. Your website, social media, and streaming should all be combined and used to deliver the message of hope effectively.
Resources on getting started: